Stumping for Emmanuelle Riva

There were precious few of us who thought Michael Haneke's brilliant "Amour" had the proper support to show up in the major categories at the Academy Awards. At the end of the day, it was faith well-placed, as the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay (though I still wonder why Jean-Louis Trintignant was lost in the shuffle).

That is, in some ways, a win in and of itself. It's huge, really. But I'm troubled in my calls and conversations lately: many members, despite this strong showing, still haven't seen the film. And I would like to implore them now: watch the movie. It's not as much of a downer as you think it is. It's a beautiful exploration of its namesake. Actors in particular, it's a stunning display of your craft. And with a Best Actress race that has some excitement to it, it behooves you to make an educated pick.

See all the movies, actually. What do you think all this extra time is good for? And if "Amour" has been lying near the bottom of your stack, move it up a bit, if only to give Emmanuelle Riva's work a long, hard look. Because she deserves your attention. If you don't think she deserves your vote after that, fine. But at least you'll know and it won't have been this nebulous thing that you never got to.

Allow me, though, to explain why I think Riva does deserve your vote. It's in the physicality of the performance. Discussing Helen Hunt's work in "The Sessions" earlier this year, John Hawkes told me that "brave" is a word that gets tossed around a lot, and that it applied to his co-star. He was right. It also applies to Riva, perhaps more than any other actor or actress in the race. It takes something to stare down the brutal truths of this film and to lay yourself bare as Riva does in the latter portions of "Amour." It's more lived-in than any other piece of work in the category. There is zero artifice. It's not a movie star turn. It's not a firecracker starlet lighting up the screen. It's a drilled down examination of character. I ask you, what other definition would you apply to "acting?"

It's your vote. I implore you to do with it what you want. I just want to give you my perspective. And no other performance touched Riva's in my opinion this year. Denis Lavant came close in "Holy Motors," but he didn't make the Oscar cut. It's a miracle enough that Riva did.

The race itself has boiled down to Jennifer Lawrence's to lose. This is her second trip to the Oscars and we all know she'll be back. You do have three other areas to recognize the acting in "Silver Linings Playbook," and others besides if you're really in love with it. Jessica Chastain fell off her perch somewhere along the way. Naomi Watts has her industry supporters. Quvenzhané Wallis is a lovely time capsule story for the year. But Emmanuelle Riva gave us one for the ages.

And you wouldn't just be throwing your vote away, mind. I have a hunch there will be a lot of voters right there with you. Because when you have the chance to recognize someone like this, it's hard not to take it.

But again, if you've been holding out on watching the movie, give it a go and just see if you feel similarly. You just might.

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Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.

It might sound batshit crazy and absurd but if all the members watch Amour, it could win some major awards besides Actress.

Amour is not a film easily forgotten. Images and moments will linger long in your mind after you have seen it. It has a gravity and a high seriousness that is really bracing and almost staggering.

I think years later when lesser films like Argo have fallen by the wayside as risible flavor of the season pulp, Amour will be remembered as magnificent cinema, with an auteur operating at the height of his powers and where his shattering formal technique and thematic inquiries come to the fore.

I think Amour will go down as a classic. I probably couldn't say this about any other Best Picture nominee.

I wonder why awards season support of one film must so often include putting down the competition. How are Argo and Amour even comparable films? They're completely different in style, scope and content. Or in other words: How is Argo a "lesser" film?

I for one was blown away by both Amour and Argo, for very different reasons, and in very different forms. Now I know that ultimately, the Oscars are all about choosing one winner out of many equals, but I find that this sort of talk adds nothing to the discussion except for an increased sense of deathmatch style partisanship. The Oscars, at least in their phase 2, are about favorite films, not the "best".

Of the two performances, I thought Trintignant's was superior, though Riva was certainly very good as well. That said, I hope voters in the Best Actress category consider the performances solely on their merits. It's tempting to justify voting for Riva because Lawrence will surely be back, but I think that's both unfair to Lawrence and insulting to Riva. If voters believe that Riva's performance is the best, then they should certainly cast their vote in her favor and not be concerned about "throwing it away". But here's hoping Riva's advocates vote for her because they think she delivered the best performance and not because of any circumstantial considerations.

I, too, am still pissed that Trintignant got ignored. I preferred his performance to Riva's, though I can certainly respect what Riva did on screen. She didn't have a bold and loud and cliched character, she transformed into someone else completely, a someone who transformed quite physically...

I really don't get the fuss about Lawrence in Playbook. What did she do that was so challenging? And she wasn't even in the movie for the first like half hour. This is far from her best performances (in The Poker House and Winter's Bones), hell even in The Hunger Games she displayed more. It's baffling to me why she keeps winning awards for this performance. It'd be ridiculous for her to win over Riva. I love Jennifer Lawrence as much as the next person, but come on now.

Lawrence is an IT girl. When I first started following awards season Renee Zellweger was an IT girl too. Now she's no where to be found. IT girls are a dime a dozen. Celebrated one time period, forgotten the next. Not saying Lawrence will turn out similarly but some of the careers of some of this IT girls post Oscar have been flat out pathetic.

Lana, I couldn't agree more, but I thought Jennifer Lawrence's performance in The Hunger Games was flat. Her acting turn in Silver Linings Playbook is one of the most overrated of last year. She never had a firm grasp of her character nor of her acting. It felt like a pre-teen girl trying to play grown-up. Plus, Lawrence's ludicrous accent and her wooden delivery were unbelievable.

I wanted to like this movie, and I admire the acting and whatnot, but I just felt nothing for these characters. I don't mind being in the minority who like a film, but I'm never happy to be in the minority to dislike one. Makes me feel like I missed out on something. But I couldn't sit through this one more than once to find out.

give it another 50 years and you might just appreciate the film...as a 20+ something, though I found it hard to understand what the characters were going through, I found it a masterpiece in filmmaking.

Even as a Movie Star Performance, Lawrence's is nowhere near, say, Julia Roberts's in Erin Brockovich, who dug deeper into the character in addition to being Sassy with a capital S. Lawrence and the rest of the cast are okay, considering the script they had to work with, but that's it.

"See all the movies, actually. What do you think all this extra time is good for?"

Exactly! I can't conceive of being an Academy member and not making the effort of seeing at least all the nominated best picture and actor performances. Heck, as a regular movie lover it's what I hope to do every year for my own sake. And in a year like this, catching up with all those films and performances is especially rewarding.

And if I would already have dvd screeners of all the films sent to me because of Academy membership, well, then there really would be no excuse...

Besides, Amour really is a beautiful film. Not nearly as tough as I was expecting; and by the end, I felt it was touched by Grace.

I like Riva in the film, I really do, it's my third favorite lead actress performance after Lawrence and Chastain (boy, am I happy with the slate of nominees they put together in the Best Actress category this year), but I can't shake the feeling since seeing the film that what Trintignant is doing is actually the harder performance to sell. I think people are projecting a lot onto Riva's performance because of what her character goes through physically. But I always thought Trintignant is the one who carries the film. He's the character who we actually get to really learn about as a fully shaped person and not just as a victim (I realize that statement oversimplifies the film and Riva's character, but i'm talking in a broader sense of the film as opposed to every little moment) He has to bring all sorts of complicated internalized emotions into his performance with out the assistance of being sympathetic on a brutally visceral level, like Riva. This isn't to discredit Riva or the film, I think all of this is by design and just the film's point of view, and I think it is indeed a great performance. But I think people are overstating its merits to a degree.

Everyone assumed this year's Glenn Close (Washington) couldn't pull through the finish line with a nomination, but never underestimate the Academy's respect for a beloved veteran with a nomination-is-the-award nomination.

SAG's shutout of Phoenix—created a sacrificial lamb out of John Hawkes.

Cooper is the best in show of his movie and his movie is popular.

Jackman is seen as overdue for a nomination.

Day-Lewis is a crowning jewel for the category. A perennial favorite they adore more now.

Oscar voters who tell you they will not or haven't seen a major nominee and don't plan to should be named and shamed. Enough already. In Tom O'Neill's latest podcast he said voters said the same thing to him in the Huffman-Witherspoon Best Actress race a couple years, voters told him they would not watch TransAmerica.

I am not an actor. I am not in the movie business. I work 40 hours a week. But god damn it I make an effort to see every major nominee every year to get a good feel on each category. And I do this NOT getting free screeners sent to me. It is inexcusable Academy voters can openly admit they don't see the work and than vote anyways. Name and shame them.

I even admit I watch some of the nominees 2 or 3 times to make sure I give them a fair shake in forming my opinion on them. Maybe I should be a member of the Academy and the people too afraid to watch certain movies should be kicked out?

In regards to Rive, I don't think the Academy is cool enough to vote for her. In this age of campaigning and feel good safe play she doesn't qualify. Lawrence's role and back story is what then Academy lives to celebrate sadly.

I cannot wrap my head around members who have "no time" or just plain reluctant to see "Amour" or other films (e.g. "Brokeback" etc). It is your job! Hell, if you love film, you should go watch "Amour", or watch as many films as you can. Otherwise I wouldn't mind taking your job! lol

Agreed. Performance of the year, male or female. If she doesn't win, it'll be because not enough voters made time to watch Amour. I can't see how anyone could see it and then vote for any of the other nominated actresses. All great performances but Riva's exists in a league of its own.

Yes I'm glad someone mentioned this. There were giant mistakes in Actress category over the last few years. I mean Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side? Come on! She was ok, but that's all. Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line? A bit better but nowhere near great. Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich? Nice but not Oscar-worthy. Thanks Heaven Steep won last year for her astonishing performance in The Iron Lady, she gives some credibility to Academy's picks.

Yes, with the caveat that a person sees all the nominees. I have no respect for someone who votes not having seen all of the nominees. Without seeing the competition, "Best Actress" just becomes "Actress."

Now I think there is too much hate for Jennifer Lawrence's performance. I mean come on. She is a very good actress, and she's only 22. Her performance was just fine, as was the one in Winter's Bone. The truth is, that as someone said Jennifer is the IT girl now. But that aside I think she's a good actress, and I think we'll bew seeing more of her. Of course Emmanuelle Riva's turn in Amour is a phenomenal one, and it is the one to go down in movie history. If it was up to me Riva would take home the Oscar. Of course US voters might not think that way. Lawrence is young, popular and pretty talented as well. But Riva is astounding. I hope the members go see Amour. It's a remarkable movie with remarkable performances.

I met some old college pals last weekend. They work in the industry and have either spoken to or heard of many Oscar voters - especially the older ones - changing their ballots in favor for Emmanuelle Riva.